“The struggle which is now in progress in Finland is not a class war… but is a collision between, on the one side a legal social order… and on the other side plain terrorist activity… the Finnish government cannot recognize for a moment these criminal gangs, which have initiated violence against all human and divine rights, are a belligerent party with who negotiations are possible.”[1]

This announcement made by White Finland perfectly describes the White stance on the Finnish Civil War. The Reds were perceived to be criminals and traitors, not legitimate combatants of a legitimate cause. For this reason, the Reds would not be treated in accordance to the rules of war. The White Terror is the name given to killings perpetrated by the White Forces outside of combat, of which there are approximately 7,263 cases.[2] The motivations behind these killings varied much more heavily than in the Red Terror, killing was used as a system of oppression, an emotional response and a nationalistic act.

In civil wars, paranoid belligerents often see enemies everywhere and take extreme measures to prevent enemies from operating within one’s zone of control. This was the primary motivator of the White Terror as the Whites took draconian measures to ensure the law and order. To justify these measures seen necessary to fight the Civil War, the Whites cited former Russian Imperial laws which they claimed still had effect in Finland. In particular, a 1909 law that stipulated the authority given to the Russian Army in times of martial law was used to justify a “shoot on spot” order issued by General Mannerheim on 25 February.[3] To facilitate political purges a “Desk for Securing Occupied Areas” was established.[4] Court Martials were set up across recently conquered territory to investigate and try captured Reds or suspected Red sympathizers. Another mechanism for policing White Finland was the creation of “flying detachments” of Whites that travelled throughout the country and executed Red sympathizers.[5]

Another key component of the killing of surrendered combatants is emotional. This is a common characteristic of all wars. Surrendering has always been a dangerous act, as emotions run high in battle. Combatants are often unwilling to accept the peaceful surrender of an enemy they previously been fighting and possibly having lost comrades to. One in four of the Red dead died trying to surrender, or just after doing so.[6] During the Battle of Tampere, an estimated 400 of the total dead were killed trying to surrender.[7]

 

The White Terror also had racial undertones. The Reds were seen to be betraying their “more civilized” race to the Russian perivihollinen (hereditary enemy).[8] Many saw killing these “Russified” Finns as a purifying act for the nation.[9] Consequently, captured Russians fighting for the Reds were often executed immediately.[10]  

After the war, Chairman of the Senate Svinhufvud pardoned all White perpetrators of war crimes.[11]

 

Citations

[1] Anthony F Upton, Finnish Revolution 1917-18 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981), 311.

[2] Juha Siltala, “Dissolution and Reintegration in Finland, 1914-1932 : How Did A Disarmed Country Become Absorbed Into Brutalization?,” Journal of Baltic Studies 46, no. 1 (March 2015): 18.

[3] Robert Gerwarth and John Horne, eds., War in Peace: Paramilitary Violence in Europe after the Great War, Reprint edition (Oxford University Press, 2013), 80–81.

[4] Pertti Haapala and Marko Tikka, “Revolution, Civil War, and Terror in Finland in 1918,” in War in Peace – Paramilitary Violence in Europe after the Great War, ed. Robert Gerwarth and John Horne (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 81.

[5] Siltala, “Dissolution and Reintegration in Finland, 1914-1932 : How Did A Disarmed Country Become Absorbed Into Brutalization?,” 19.

[6] Ibid., 18.

[7] Pertti Haapala et al., Tampere 1918: A Town in the Civil War, ed. Tuomas Hoppu et al., trans. Anu Planting (Tampere: Tampere Museums, Museum Centre Vaprikki, 2010), 157.

[8] Upton, Finnish Revolution 1917-18, 4.

[9] Siltala, “Dissolution and Reintegration in Finland, 1914-1932 : How Did A Disarmed Country Become Absorbed Into Brutalization?,” 21.

[10] Haapala et al., Tampere 1918: A Town in the Civil War, 152–53.

[11] Siltala, “Dissolution and Reintegration in Finland, 1914-1932 : How Did A Disarmed Country Become Absorbed Into Brutalization?,” 20.

Banner Photo – Whites execute captured Reds after the Battle of Länkipohka in March 1918. Credit: Harald Natvig, The Finnish Military Museum.